germ-weapons expert, was named a “person of interest” by justice department officials investigating the string of mail-based anthrax attacks that killed five people in 2001. FBI agents searched his Maryland home in June and again in August, reportedly finding no evidence to consider him a suspect. Hatfill accused the government of tipping off the media to the investigation and said repeated inquiries to former employers had destroyed his reputation. In September he was fired from his job as a researcher at Louisiana State University.